74 THE LAKE 



" infinite torment " of mosquitoes which, aware of the 

 coming storm, have thronged into the tent for shelter, 

 and retire to bed again to await the onward march of the 

 storm, for no more sleep is possible until it has passed. 

 Overhead the stars are still shining brilliantly, and it is 

 absolutely calm. Presently a faint murmuring of wavelets 

 is heard ; heralds of the disturbance produced by the 

 distant storm, by the time they reach the island reduced 

 to mere ripples. Now a faint breath of wind can be felt, 

 which dies away, followed by another puff, and the sound 

 of the rain and thunder grows louder, while the light- 

 ning increases in intensity until it almost hurts one's 

 eyes, kept tightly shut. The ripples increase into waves, 

 and the noise of surf on the beach is added to the distant 

 sounds. A few fat drops of rain descend, and then with 

 a rush and a roar the storm arrives. A hurricane of 

 wind tears and shakes the tent until one expects every 

 minute to be carried away with it ; the roar of the sheets 

 of rain on the roof is almost loud enough to drown the 

 deafening thunder produced by flashes of lightning that 

 seem to split one's very head in twain. This pandemonium 

 lasts for about a quarter of an hour, when the wind moder- 

 ates a little, the rain increases in intensity, and the 

 thunder gradually passes away as the centre of the storm 

 moves off. After an hour or so the rain slackens, but 

 continues very heavily until shortly before daybreak, 

 though sometimes continuing steadily until the morning 

 is well advanced ; the evening being again line and 

 clear. In one such storm two and a half inches of 

 rain fell between 6.30 and 9 a.m. Such is the formal 

 storm of the wet season, but quite frequently there 

 are dry thunderstorms, when the lightning apparently 

 discharges from one cloud to another, and there is 

 no rain. The thunder on these occasions has a hollow, 

 light quality, probably due to the rarified air of the 

 upper regions in which the storm occurs. The clouds 



